Spinach Smoothies.

One of our favorites. TRY IT.

2007

2010

In a Blender add:

1 cup orange juice

2 cups fresh spinach (NOT frozen)

1 cup fresh kale (cut out the thick center stem)

Blend until smooth, runny, and a nasty green.

Then add:

1/2 banana (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup frozen berries, any combination

Handful of prunes

Desired amount of sweetener (our favorite is honey)

If desired, add ice and blend to reach desired consistency.

*I've made it without kale (since it's not something I keep handy!) and it still is great.

We sometimes add yogurt, too.

DELISH.

We had some left over BALLOONS floating around from the shower...
The kids were having way too much fun AND their clothes just so happened to match ;)
(of course the football is always close by)

I take (and post) so many photos of these babies. I AM AWARE OF THAT.
But I just can't help myself. They are my life, my chosen career.
At some point each day I am brought to frustration, but the bottom line is that
these Children= my JOY.
I (we) feel incredibly privileged to have them.
The end.

ELEVEN months.

Still extra sweet.

...but something about that eleventh month brought out her sassy SOUR side!
(I have tried and tried to get a good photo of this hilarious expression. This blurry one is my best shot.)

We were ready to trade her in. Okay, never in a million years!

This girl is so much fun. So expressive.

**Looks like its high time to start planning a birthday bash!

Seussical.

A Dr. Seuss/Cat in the Hat baby shower for my cute friend Kilee on Tuesday night...
When Ki said she was doing a Seuss themed nursery, I thought it would be fun to do her shower the same.

The color scheme was so much fun.

I found the DARLING idea for these cupcakes and others here. So creative.

Too bad we are in the middle of a project!
Definitely not the prettiest backdrop...

The cute mama-to-be and Bentley's biggest sister.

Good Fun!

We are lucky Ki even made it to the shower... he will be here any day.

We are so excited to meet baby Bentley!

The Cat said, "THAT IS THAT."
And then he was gone
With a tip of his hat.

It's been a while.

One week, to be exact. And again there isn't much to report.
So this is what we looked like this week.

Demolition
and DUST.

Sick Babies

(as if we didn't JUST get over this)

Bean Museum
(Again. But this time Case wanted to take Gma)

How's that for interesting? Just call us the Boring Brutsch's.

I want CANDY.

MINE. Okay, maybe it says right on top that it isn't totally mine.

This came in the mail a few days ago for me from my brother, T.
Yes, I was very excited. I really love candy. I need candy. It is a major food group.
(I promise I am trying to quit).

Anywho... Cason didn't know I was watching him this morning.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
He laughed to himself when he was successful.
Then we both cracked up together when he discovered me
because he was SO proud.
Funny [clever] boy.

Thanks T!
(It's almost gone.)

Life has been pretty boring over here... (I am learning that boring is good though).

We got a Flip Cam for Christmas (thanks dad!) and I find myself videoing the kids very regularly.
This one's for those of you that find our babies just as exciting as we do. (All 4 of you ;)
I apologize in advance for my annoying baby-talk voice.
Our little ladybug shows off her newest tricks:

Flashback Friday: Belated Birthdays.

I have always felt bad for people with December and January birthdays...
Their celebrations are always overlooked or combined with the hubbub of the holidays.

And here I am, guilty of the above... but that doesn't mean these people are any less important to us Brutsches!

My cute sister Gina.

January 1999
She is so darling and fashionable, not to mention a great photographer.

Beautiful Kenzoli, Kiki... our sweet Mackenzie

December 1994
Yes, another "little" sis. I was blessed to play pretend mother to them all.
Kenz is such a fun, easy-going soul. She is handling the pressures, if you will,
of being the last bird to leave the nest quite well.

Cute, cute... I mean studly David.
My youngest sib.

August 2003
I love being around this guy. He is always laughing.
Plus he has such a perfectly genuine smile.

This is a plea to you, my three youngest sibs, to come visit us soon.
Writing this has made me miss you all like crazy. xoxo.

Also, Ben's sweet Aunt celebrated last week.

She is one of the most generous people you will ever meet.
She was one of the people we missed out on seeing while we were in CA
because of our dumb sinus infections/pink-eye.
We are still sad about those missed opportunities.

Happy happy birthday!
And happy weekend to the rest of you!

On resolutions.

Nothing much to blog about,except this week in pictures, of course. Oh, those sweet sweet, funny babies.

I didn't make any unattainable New Year's goals this year on purpose.
Instead of setting myself up for disappointment (I didn't lose ten pounds, read a book a month, or work out every day. Nor did I make a nice meal every evening, remember birthdays, read my scriptures daily or write an anonymous letter every week), I have to be realistic:

DON'T GAIN 10 LBS.
FINISH UNPACKING THOSE BLASTED BOXES.
DO MY BEST.

That is my resolve.

For you women, here is something to ponder:

If I were Satan and wanted to destroy a society, I think I would stage a full-blown blitz on women. I would keep them so distraught and distracted that they would never find the calming strength and serenity for which their [gender] has always been known.

Satan has effectively done that, catching us in the crunch of trying to be superhuman instead of striving to reach our unique, God-given potential within such diversity. He tauntingly teases us that if we don’t have it all—fame, fortune, families, and fun, and have it all the time—we have been short-changed and are second-class citizens in the race of life. As [women] we are struggling, our families are struggling, and our society is struggling. Drugs, teenage pregnancies, divorce, family violence, and suicide are some of the ever-increasing side effects of our collective life in the express lane.

Too many of us are struggling and suffering, too many are running faster than they have strength, expecting too much of themselves.

AND MY FAVORITE LINE--

...We must have the courage to be imperfect while striving for perfection.

Read the rest here.

High chair games.

I happen to think that babies with food crusties on their faces are kind of charming.

Or maybe I just think her crusties are cute because she is my flesh...

She is just so expressive and interactive these days.

I clearly had a hard time choosing which photos to share (what's new though, right?).

Ligers and Tigers and Bears. OH MY!

The Bean Museum.
Free and easy. It doesn't get much better. (Plus there is a real LIGER. Remember Napoleon Dynamite?)
Case is still talking about the wong net (long neck) giraffe and the whoa big! elephant.
He also reminds me that he is not scared anymore and that the animals are niiiii.
...at least they are niiii in this setting. Maybe I shouldn't be giving him a false sense of security!

Out of all the times we have been, Case seemed to enjoy this trip the most.
I think we will be back again very soon.

Lucia was not scared, but very much excited to be so close.
She was literally trying to jump out my arms to touch the animals.

Haley met us in between classes. (yes, I know its blurry)
I always love that extra help!

The End.

Ski School.

Start 'em young! Ben says.

Bundled up at Sundance...

{I love how his hat and hood make his face all squishy}Back up the hill!He actually loved the falling down part.
I fawy down! ...on my bumma!

He enjoyed himself even better than last year.

Luce and I were spectators.
AND we snuggled a lot.
She was so snuggle-able in all those cozy layers.

Case held us to our promise of a sucker when we were through.
And he thought little Luce deserved some too...

Ben picked up his favorite root beer (remember this?) for his reward.
Sundance happens to be the only place we know of anymore to carry it.

Proud Papa.

Proud indeed. This man loves skiing so much.
You see, Ben already went on a 6 hour back country ski tour this morning
but was thrilled to share even more mountain time with his fam.

Cason cried for more a good portion of the drive down the canyon.
It's probably the first time Ben has ever enjoyed that sound.

California Christmas {part 3}.

Ben and I have been trying to get to Julian for years now. But it never happens... so we made it happen this year. My family used to go a lot when we were younger... it was my mom and Ed's favorite Saturday Getaway. Anyway, we pulled it together and got there. Though it was freezing, and though we didn't have everyone, it was a fun time.

It is such a darling little town. And of course, you can't beat their famous PIE!

Ben and I try to find a candy store every town we visit... a litmus test, if you will.
My theory is that a candy store at the end of a day will make any day seem like a fun day!
But I've got to say, Julian's candy shop was kind of a disappointment. Just saying.

This is my mom calling work to say that she won't be bringing her boss (Eddie) lunch...
You can tell she feels really bad about leaving him home.

Cute place. I would love to go to a B&B there.

(hint hint Benny ;)

...and I think these are the rest of the best photos from our California Christmas. We had such a blast just hanging out, watching movies and being with my sibs. I seriously can't count all the movies we watched.

Our cute and goofy Blake---
Hey Lu... is this supposed to be a poncho or something? Like one of those snuggies?
Haha. No Blake, it's a Christmas tree skirt.
He found it lying around while searching for a real blanket.
Then he said
It looks like my old choir gown.
hahahahaha
We got to visit the cutest Edison family.

(They are coming to visit us in the spring! I can't wait!)

We ended up leaving three days early because my boys were quite sick with sinus infections.

Then Case broke out in pink eye and passed it on to both the baby and myself.

But we are back home now and on the mend.
Cason has had to make some major adjustments after receiving daily surprises from Grandma...
not to mention her well stocked candy drawers!

Rise all loyal Cougars...

But first, a few things about this video:

-The time of day was earlier than I would have preferred to be awake.
-We are sleeping in the guest room at my mom's house.
-I am so glad that I wasn't nursing Luci at this moment when Ben decided to wake me up with the video camera!
-I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be a pretty morning person, and Ben would not let me edit that part out.
-Cason's honesty is priceless. I just can't believe we have it on video for all posterity; maybe even perhaps for future blackmailing power.



I hope that made your day a little bit funnier.
I have watched it now more times than I can count and I die laughing every time.

10 Months.

The passing of time boggles my mind.
How is it even possible that we are only two months away from one year?

Ben and I had a special two-on-one moment with her last Sunday.
I am so glad the camera was close by to capture her SWEET mood.

Another month gone by and STILL, she is as sweet as they come.